Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-14
How an Apparently Small Thing Led
to the Unearthing Of the Pan
handle Robberies.
The United States Authorities Have De-
cided TO Proceed Against the
Government PIRnderers.
More arrests to be MadG-A Letter Con
tanning a Threat-Some Startling
Developments Promised.
THE FIRST CLEW.


| government bonded car which had been
| broken open with steel chisel, and the
tool had been left behind, which told the
! story, with the initials P, st. L. & c..
stamped upon it. The initials indicated
that the tool belonged to the Pittsburg,
| st. Louis and Chicago Railroad, aud the
tool-chest from whence it came was
easily found and the crew of
that train were spotted. The
goods were consigned to S. c..
! Davis & Co. Of this city. The depredat-
ors, in taking several guns, matched the
numbers on the barrels and stocks, which
is ample evidence of their not having
| been buried, and showing further that
| they knew that either stock or barrel
would be useless without the numbers
matched. From these CleWs followed a
system of espionage with the result OF
uDearthing the whole gang.
MORE DEVELOPMENTS.
| PITTsBURG, Pa, April I3.-pne SC
| completes Of the railroad thieves are re-
sorting TO threats to intimjdGte the Pan
handle road officials. Among the mail
laid on Superintendent Teylor'S desk this
morning was letter from DennisOD, ad
| dressed 10 Taylor, VINO opened it and
| found the folio wing threatening m!ssiVe:
| "DOn't make any more arrests, damn
| you, or we will cut your damn wires and
do it as often as we please. You can't
get US all. You had better let the matter
drop"
Superintendent Taylor thinks he recog-
Dizes the handwriting, and the man
| will be spotted. He is still in the com
pany's employ. This letter would iuGi-
cate that the thieves have not all been
captured and thai the gang Wss well
| organized. The police are still working
quietly on the case 8Gd some startling
developments are promised, but Of what
nature cannot be surmised. Two more
arrests were made shortly after
midnight John Barth ard G..
w. Smith, brakemen, supposed
to be implicated in the robberies, were
surprised st their homes. Both were dis
charged from the Panhandle a short time
ago, and have since been working on the
| Baltimore and Ohio. Several tickets and
some new handkerchiefs, it is said, were
! found on the persons of the pris-
opers. A number of accused,
who have been interviewed, assert
their innocence and give plausible eXpla-
nations for the goods found in their pos
session. Detective COublon of the city
police left this morning to arrest several
men who had been in the employ of the
company. but had left before the eX-
posure. These men, it is claimed, are
| known to be among the most prominent
and reckless on the Panhandle. They are
now in the employ Of the Pennsylvania
hallway, the Fort Wayne, the Lake Erie
and Baltimore and Ohio. It is asserted
that the same went to other lines to or
gsniZe the crews of these roads with the
view Of systematic robbery. The probs-
! bility that the rob0eries have. extended to
| Fort Wayne and Cleveland and Pittsburg
| is based on the fact Of these roads paral-
| Icing each other for a considerable dis
lance, and Of the naturally close relation
which would exist among the men en-
gagged on them. There is admittedly less
ground for the probability in case of the
Pennsylvania, as Special Agent Rue has
said repeatedly that there is no stealing
| on that line. and still less probability
of it on the Lake Erie on account of it's
short line, smaller number of trains and
consequently the difficulty Of escaping
detection. Superintendent Taylor IN
speaking of the arrests. stated to-day that
there were still large number of train
men on the Pittsburg division on whom
there did not rest the slightest suspicion.
For these the company hes the kindest
feeling. He said there were eighty
through freight5 between Pittsburg and
Columbus. OF this number thirty-tige
were west of Dennison aad were not
under surveillance. OF the remaining
forty-fve crews employing $50 men, sixty
men were arrested. This lett about 100
men between Pittsburg and Den
ison, he said, who were
not under suspicion and were still work
ing. The counsel for the prisoners have
not yet determined upon a plan CT de-
feu8e, but say they are waiting the result
of the hearing on Monday. The cases
against the prisoners will then be dis
closed and thus let the men know what
theyare expected to meet. There is an effort
being made by the attorneys for the rail-
road to push the cases, so they can be
heard by the present grand jury, and thus
secure trial at the present term of court.
The Assistant District Attorney stated
to-day that it was the intention Of the
grand jury to finish the work laid out for
this term next week, but If it seems bet
ter that the jury should hold over ten
days in order to dispose of the
railroad cases, that Will be done.
He will be assisted in framing the indict-
ments by the counsel for the railroad, but
neither this work, nor in fact any, can be
done until after the cases are heard be-
fore the aldermen.
The United States authorities have de-
cided to proceed against the Panhandle
plunderers for breaking into government
bonded cars. An investigation is
now in progress here, and the
matter will then be laid be-
fore the Department of Justice
for further action. The Pennsylvania
Company announced through one of its
leading officials to-day that five days
would be given to the people having in
their possession goods stolen from Pan
handle trains in which to return the